Are the swords in Game of Thrones practical designs?
28,773Short answer: Yes. They are pretty similar to historical swords and would be perfectly usable in real life.
The longswords are reasonably sized and shaped, they are not overly bulky and they have comfortable looking handles (maybe with the exception of the Dothraki arakh).
Jon Snow's Longclaw looks like it's based on roughly 13th-14th century longswords, just with a wolf's head pommel. Ned Stark's Ice resembles a claymore or a relatively small greatsword in size. Arya's Needle seems inspired by rapiers and smallswords, although with a very short blade and a simple guard with only one ring. Gregor Clegane's swords looks almost exactly like an Irish Gallowglass sword. The arakh appears like a hybrid between the Dacian falx and sickle swords like the Egyptian khopesh, the Central African Mambele or Abyssinian shotel.
My review of the bronze khopesh by Neil Burridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTAdzHbp2I
Outro music: "Highland Storm" by Slanted Room Records (used with permission)
http://theslantedroom.weebly.com/
https://soundcloud.com/the-slanted-room/tracks
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My favorite online store for buying swords (worldwide shipping):
http://ww4.aitsafe.com/go.htm?go=kultofathena.com&afid=28632&tm=14&im=1
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